The Joining: The Saga of the Shards Book One (The Cycle of the Shards 1)

by Chris Stephenson

  “Uh, yeah, yeah everything’s fine.” Critock answered, and realized he was sweating. Why was he sweating? Oh yeah. He was human. Humans sweat. He supposed this was one more disgusting thing he was going to have to get used to while he was here. “How are you?” He attempted to start conversation.

  “Preeeetty good. That was a hell of a thing you did today.”

  “What. You mean Brian? I didn’t do anything. He’s big, but he moves like…” He searched for a word. “A big…slow. Truck. That’s it, a truck.” He hoped his inability to access anything useful from Kyle would come across as endearing. Anything for the plan. He thought.

  Shanna smiled. “Yeah, but you made him look like he was standing still…Up until he ran into that wall, anyway.”

  Critock was feeling a little embarrassed at all the attention. Years of campaigns won and enemies defeated seemed to not have resulted in the kind of adoration that he was receiving just for doing the least amount possible to avoid getting beat by a problem child. It was lunacy. “Look, guy has problems, it’s a shame that someone had to shame him like that but it was a long time coming. Honestly if someone would have sat him down and let him know that he wasn’t going to be allowed to get away with bullying people anymore, we could have avoided all this.” The two of them were being as quiet as they could, whispering.

  Normally Shanna would have been making good headway in her assignment, but with the distraction she had barely started. She idly typed, not really paying attention, as she replied to Kyle. “So you weren’t looking for a fight?”

  “No!” He exclaimed a little loudly, catching the attention of a few others around the room. He shook his head as they went back to their work. “I’m not here to fight. I was actually hoping to avoid him, but he came after me.” Having taken in enough about how computers worked here already, he knew that only one person could input information at a time, and Shanna showed no sign of being interested in giving him a turn, which was fine with him. He idly flipped through the yearbook, hoping he could explain what he wanted without revealing exactly why he wanted it . “Honestly, I’m more interested in this book.”

  “Last year’s yearbook?” Shanna stopped talking, and looked at him. Unafraid of the awkward close encounter, he stared back at her, and took the opportunity to look at her eyes. A beautiful shade of green, he thought, and felt a rush of relief when he did not see the telltale ring around the iris. She wasn’t Pt’ron, she was just a normal teenage girl. He also felt Kyle’s relief as well, and while it would have been easier if she had turned out to be his enemy, he knew he would’ve had a fight on his hands not just from Pt’ron, but also from Kyle to keep him from killing her.

  It almost seemed to be a staring contest between the two of them, although there was something deeper than that to her, at least. She could see the ring of black in his eyes, and she couldn’t believe she had never noticed it before. It was so unique, and made him special to her.

  Critock wasn’t particularly interested in looking into her eyes. While it wasn’t entirely unpleasant he had other goals right now, but he decided to throw Kyle a bone and relinquished part of himself so that he could get the full experience. He felt a request from him, and he tentatively allowed it.

  “You have very pretty eyes.” The voice was entirely Kyle’s, and Critock was relieved he didn’t have to cut him off from trying to explain what was going on. His consciousness satisfied, it willingly retreated, allowing Critock to fully reassert himself again. He took that opportunity to look back at the yearbook, breaking the connection under the charade of awkward embarrassment.

  Shanna was struck dumb for a moment. Sure, she had been complimented, but this was so…sincere! She was lost for words, and could only stumble out a “…Thanks.” Before turning back to her computer. A quiet moment passed before Critock got the subject back on track.

  “Yes, um, last year’s yearbook. I’m doing a project that kind of energized me, but I’m having a couple problems with it.”

  “Oh? What’s going on?” Shanna purposefully stared at her computer screen, though she couldn’t concentrate enough to try and do any work, as her mind was still doing flip flops over the meaningful look and the compliment.

  “Well, it’s these pictures. I’m doing a project on the eyes of the students at the school. I was hoping to be able to use the pictures in here…” He flipped through the yearbook and the black and white images. “But everything is either too small or too blurry. It’s a shame, it would have been a lot easier…”

  “Tell me about it.” Tom, who fortunately had missed the stare between the two due to exploring the room and trying to learn as much as he could about the technology of this world, as well as seeing exactly what game the teacher was playing instead of keeping an eye on the class, had returned to see how Critock was progressing with his ill-conceived plan.

  “Well, these pictures are small and in a bad resolution. If you want to get a better look at the eyes, you need access to either the original prints, or the files in the school system. Have you contacted the photo studio? They could probably work with you.”

  Critock smirked. This might actually be easier than he thought, though he shut down that line of thought in fear of once again jinxing himself. “No, I should’ve thought of that. But that’d take time, wouldn’t it?”

  Shanna nodded, finding talking about projects and art with this suddenly interesting boy much more interesting than her boring assignment. “Yeah, couple of weeks at least. They’d have to clear it with the school.”

  Critock sighed loudly, probably overselling it a bit but he never considered himself an actor. “Well, that won’t work then. I need it tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow!” Shanna exclaimed. “How long have you been working on this project?”

  “Um, not long.” He answered, truthfully.

  Shanna closed her eyes, thinking. “Well, that kills that idea. So that leaves the school system. Have you talked to anyone about getting access to school files?”

  “Well, I had hoped to get info out of Phelps, but…”

  She finished his technically correct sentence. “But school systems aren’t allowed to be accessed by students for security reasons. Makes sense.”

  In truth, Critock hadn’t really wanted to broach any subject with the teacher, preferring to go under the radar as much as possible. He figured there would be some kind of security issue. He could just imagine the problem if he had asked for access to private records when he was still coming up through the education system on Marconia. If he had more time, he probably would have tried to work something out more directly with the school, but as it was, subterfuge was going to be his best option. He agreed with Shanna. “So I’m a bit stuck here. Was hoping you had an idea?”

  Shanna didn’t stop to think why he had never brought this up before, or even yesterday when they were talking. She did like projects, and the sense of adventure that was growing from the ideas she had excited her. Not to mention, she had secret plans of her own that were forming. “Well, I can try to get into the system without them knowing, but I’d have to do it away from school.”

  “Don’t you have access in the office?”

  “Yeah, but everything there is tracked and I’ve got Secretaries and Principal Tompkins breathing down my neck all the time in there. There’s no way someone wouldn’t notice I’m looking at or downloading pictures.”

  “Hm.” Okay, that wasn’t an option then, at least not option A. If he came to it, he thought, he could probably rig something that they could get in the office without anyone else being there, but he wasn’t yet willing to put Shanna in any danger. When did I get so soft? He wondered. Trillions of people all over the universe at stake, and I’m worried about one child.

  “I could try to access a system when nobody’s looking, maybe when the school’s closed tonight?” Tom whispered helpfully. Critock nodded to the idea, and filed it in the back of his mind. Risky proposition, but probably safer than asking the girl to d
o it.

  “So like I said, we do it away from school. I know some passwords and logins we can try and use, they’re older but they tend not to delete anything here. What are you doing after school?”

  Critock was taken aback, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He hadn’t really looked at Kyle’s home life, or his typical routine. For a change, Kyle was being very helpful, and there were suddenly images of an empty house, a father who wasn’t going to arrive until later if he showed up at all, and a night that was filled with wasting time on the computer before crawling into bed. Critock may not have been on this planet long but he wasn’t stupid, he knew exactly where Kyle was going with this, and he didn’t want to pursue anything of that nature. Still, this was currently the best option. If she could get them access to the pictures at home, they’d have as much time as they needed to locate Pt’ron, and then have the night to plan their attack. Cutting it closer than he would like, but unless something else presented itself, this was their best option.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.” Critock answered confidently, smiling as he did so, which caused Shanna to smile right back at him. A surprised Tom rushed over to float in front of Critock’s face, blocking his view of Shanna, though of course Shanna’s view was unencumbered.

  “What are you doing?” The wisp hissed as low as he could. “You can’t invite her over to your house! Or Kyle’s house! Or anyone’s house! We don’t have time for this!”

  Critock just kept smiling, ignoring the excitable wisp. Shanna, for her part, was completely oblivious to the events right in front of her face, other than hearing a slight ‘sss’ sound that could have been coming from anywhere. As far as she was concerned, Kyle was smiling at her, and for some reason that was feeding her smile, which fed right back to him. Also feeding her happiness was that her plan was unfolding perfectly. “My parents are always around and my dad is a real bear about having boys over, so your place? Around six? I think Mrs. Smith might be giving us homework tonight and I have to get that done, if I miss one more paper she’s going to throw me out the window.”

  Having no concept of Earth time nor did he really want to ask for specifics or prod Kyle, Critock just nodded. He’d work out the minutiae later. “Sounds like a plan.” He continued to ignore Tom as he groaned and sank to the desk.

  They spoke a bit longer about the evening, and Critock was able to get Kyle’s address for her, and the plan was set in stone that evening. Both of them were happy with the outcome, as both of their secret goals were in play. For Shanna, just being able to get to know him a little better was going to be enough, and who knows what could happen? For Critock, he felt that much closer to finding out who Pt’ron is and getting off this rock before time ran out for all of them. He knew Tom thought it was a horrific waste of time and involving a civilian child was a very bad idea, but there was something about Shanna that told him that she could help them, and at the very least it would get Kyle more on his side, and that could be useful if he needed to access any more information. The two of them continued to chat about nothing at all, Critock doing little more than interjecting here and there but mostly listening to Shanna talk about school and teachers she didn’t like, with Tom giving up and going back to floating around the room, until the bell called an end to the class.

  15

  Critock could not believe how well that went. Other than the initial problem of being stuck in the wrong body in the first place, everything that looked like it could derail the mission was instead enhancing it. Friends didn’t notice anything, the bully was defeated with only positive things coming from it, the girl of Kyle’s dreams was more than eager to help with a plan that she knew nothing about, and Kyle himself wasn’t fighting any more, seemingly satisfied that his life was on the upswing thanks to the unwelcome intruder. He moved down the hall quickly, happy that at last something was going well, even if Tom had not stopped complaining since they left Shanna’s presence with a happy wave.

  “What are you doing?” Tom was beside himself with worry. To him, everything they had done since they had arrived on Earth was just treading water. Sure, they had gotten a yearbook and was able to salvage some semblance of the original plan, but between taking out that large boy and linking up with the girl, it seemed that Critock had lost all interest in saving Marconia let alone this world, and instead was concentrating on reliving a youth he never had. He knew he had been sent to assist but he wasn’t willing to keep helping a boy, he was here for the Empire’s continued existence!

  Critock shook his head, speaking softly and hoping no one would think he was talking to himself. He’d rather come clean as being an alien than having left this world with everyone thinking Kyle was crazy, if somehow he came out of this unscathed. “I’m trying to get the plan taken care of while not screwing up this kid’s life. It’s not his fault he tripped, it’s that bully’s friends.”

  Tom barrel rolled in annoyance. “Would you listen to yourself? Making excuses? You can’t put one boy in front of the entire Empire, Critock. He might be a great kid, hell they’re all good kids and apparently not galactic traitorous mass murderers, bully for them. But we can’t worry about getting Kyle dates, when there are better ways we can go about this…”

  Critock stopped, grabbed Tom out of the air, and pulled him around. There was an unlocked locker cracked half open, left vacant by a student that had switched to another school, and Critock took advantage of it. He opened the locker and shoved Tom inside and put his face in so no one would notice him talking, only another kid looking deep in his locker for something. He was not loud but he was firm. “Like what, Tom? What great ideas do you have? Waiting till tonight and hoping we can break into the school and somehow figure out their computer systems when I needed Shanna’s help just to turn the damn thing on? Setting the place on fire and hoping it takes the Shards with it? Hell, lets go back to the original plan of just wiping out the school with a rocket and hope that the Qua’roti still exists to extract us!” He stopped, and glanced around, but no one seemed to take notice. He turned back to Tom. “Look, I don’t know what I’m doing. This is uncharted territory for me, hell it probably would be for most of the Marconian military. Like it or not, we’re locked in. So we’re going to do this, and because you had to come drag me from one side of the universe to the other, you’re going to have to trust me when I say this is the best way to make sure we find the Shards, stop Pt’ron, and get us off this rock so you can go back being nervous in the inner sanctum and I can finally go back to what I was always supposed to be doing, helping my planet!”

  Tom was silent, letting Critock finish, before he finally got a chance to answer. “What if you’re wrong?”

  “Then when Pt’ron does reveal himself, we fight him. We distract him so he doesn’t get a chance to stop the missiles, and we probably die. So please, please, come up with a better idea than what I’ve got so far, because I know this is a bad plan, but it’s all I’ve got.” Critock turned around and put his back to the lockers, laying his head back against the upper compartment. Tom floated out as he closed his eyes. “I’m not used to this, Tomk. Not like I used to be. Critock from a couple thousand cycles ago would have swept in here and made a spectacle, and we’d be done by now. What happened to me?”

  “You stopped being a patriot, and started being a man.” Tom said, and Critock opened his eyes and looked at him. “I have read up on you, you know. You had a crusade you were on. It’s why you got in the military in the first place. And when you got in slowly you forgot why you were doing it and instead you started fighting someone else's war. Made buddies with a bad guy, lost your intended, and in the end the only thing that kept you from the Cobalt mines is Qua’roti Alpha felt sorry for what they did to you. I did my homework, Critock, I know where you’ve been and what you’ve been through.”

  The bell rang in the distance, and Critock took no notice. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

  Tom wasn’t phased. “Abandoned by everyone you ever knew, y
ou started fighting for yourself. Even now you’ve got a chance to go back to the way you used to be. You fought for a good cause in the wars, but you weren’t always a good guy. Here? Here you’ve got a chance to get back everything you lost. Your rank, your soldiers, and you save the entire Marconian empire in the process. All you have to do is fight for someone else again, do what the Alpha says one more time. And what are you doing? You’re fighting for yourself still. Trying to be the good guy, setting up the kid to be great and making it so you can leave here a hero.

  “But we can’t be heroes here, Critock. We have to do our job and get out. We don’t belong here. It’s a long shot if Kyle is even gonna remember what happened to him after we’re gone. So stop worrying about him and start worrying about what we’re here to do. It stinks, I know, but I’m not willing to die and lose the Empire along with us just because you feel bad about one stupid mistake that you couldn’t do anything to stop. “ Tom finished, and Critock was stunned for a quick moment before he realized he still had to keep up appearances, and mentally located and started moving to the gym as he replied.

  “You’d make a hell of a military officer, you sure you’re in the right Corps?”

  “Sorry…Been working on that all period while you were mooning over legs in there.” Critock sighed but let it pass.

  “I’m…not sure what I am any more, Tom. I was a soldier, I was a bounty hunter. Am I a good guy? Am I bad? All I know is I don’t want to screw anyone else's life up as badly as I’ve apparently screwed up mine. I want to get out of here. To do that, I’ll do whatever I have to.”

  “Well, I don’t like it so far, but I’m still with you. Just try and keep in mind that the more you leave me alone, the more speeches I have to give, ok?”

  “Agreed.” All in all, Tom wasn’t that bad of a wisp. Little panicky, and he might have known what had happened by reading the records but he didn’t live his life, he didn’t feel the losses he had and experienced the wars first hand. He could not possibly know what he had been through and what he was feeling now. He wanted back what he lost. He could not get back his lost love by any stretch, but he could get back his honor. He would be a general again. He would command troops and fight battles and all of Marconia would eventually sing his praises where right now they would curse them. He would leave this planet better than he found it and that would be part of the legend. He would not let Kyle stand in his way, but he wasn’t going to hurt his chances in life either. He looked up as he approached the gymnasium. Tomkari meant well, but he wasn’t experienced in going on missions and fighting for his life. Critock was, and he would do anything in his power to accomplish this. And speaking of power…